I felt like being a nice guy today, so I finished this volume 11 summary I have been writing. It was meant to be posted after the official hiatus of this blog, but since I can post now so I thought “Hey, what the hell.” and decided to post this.
Volume 12 is also in the works, but don’t expect a summary any time soon ‘cuz I’m still in the organizing stages. Frequent scene shifts is a real bitch.
*Not spell-checked so beware of typos*
*SPOILERS BELOW!*
Summary
Battered and bruised, Cisqua and Rowen can only stand helplessly and watch the battleground as Gladius conjures up an attack that will supposedly end Cou’s life and contract with Ren. In a flurry of debris, Gladius launches off a great ball of energy from his Edel Raid straight at Cou. Much to everyone’s surprise, Cou and Ren is able to block the attack, albeit not without difficulty. Cisqua attempts to offer some assistance, but Cou tells her to back off. Knowing he cannot possibly hold off Gladius for much longer, Cou puts all his trust and resolve in Ren and bets their fate in one last desperate retaliation. It works, but their success is not without price. When the smoke clears, he and Ren are no longer in full react mode. While not completely, Ren has materialized much of her “human” body back, achieving what is called the “Half-react” mode. Thinking that their pledge will soon be broken, Gladius is undaunted by Cou and Ren’s half-react mode. The assassin’s joy is brilliantly extinguished, however, when the couple executes a synchronized attack spell with stunning success. Due to the fact that Gladius’s Edel Raid, Idoi, falls under the Darkness attribute (see the end of the post for a list of attributes), it is naturally weak against Blaze (the kanji is that of “light”) element attacks. Ren and Cou’s last attack was an amplified version of Ren’s self-defensive “Flash of Beauty” (I’ll change that to the official name once I consult the english adaptation when I get back home) spell that she used during the Beazon incident, which is why it is extremely effective against Idoi. Despite the fact that he’s at a disadvantage, Gladius is no push-over. Bleeding, Gladius pulls himself out of the rubble and charges at Cou before the former could finish the next spell. His attempt is interrupted by the injured Rowen and Cisqua, but due to their current condition all they can do is delay Gladius and buy time for the chanting couple. The assassin makes quick work of their resistence and resumes his charge. Gladius blasts off a wave of black arrows, but they are intercepted by the rounds of the mysterious gun-toting Pleasure that has been following the gang for some time now. Using Gladius’s shock to their advantage, Cou and Ren finishes their chant and initiates their attack. The result is an Euros Loop of grand proportions. The theater battleground is reduced to an indistinguishable crater of rubble.
In the aftermath, the bleeding Cisqua finds Cou and Ren lying unconscious on the ground. Fearing for the worst, she rushes to their side. She grasps their hands with her own, and sighs in relief when she feels the warmth of their flesh. Her relief is short lived, however, as Gladius emerges out of the ruins. Fortunately, with his torso gushing profusely Gladius knows he is no longer fit for combat. He offers his enemies his congratulations and exits the scene. As the assassin’s aircraft slowly departs, Cisqua catches a glimpse of the insignia on its port side: Orga Night.
By the time Gladius’s airship docks, his wounds have already bled a considerable amount. In the corridors of the organization’s complex he hears singing, and to his chagrin, sees Greyarts slowly approaching him. Despite his wounds, Gladius taunts him and attacks. The end result is one that he did not expect: Greyarts’s barrage of light/crystal shards cuts through his dark arrows and then his body, and finally pinning him to the wall behind him. Greyarts has been equipped with a new Edel Raid partner which during reaction replaces his severed arms with wings of light. Still lacking strength, Greyarts collapses after the attack. Hanging around his throat attached to a chain is Cocowet’s Elemental Gelade. As Greyarts leans against the wall in pain and sorrow, a familiar face walks by him: Parl.
Gladius’s corpse is soon discovered by the members of Orga Night. Benellita (ビーネンリッター), Barobarooks (バロバルクス), and Diroy (ディロイ) are the first to arrive. Of the three only Diroy appears to be even remotely concerned about Gladius’s death. The remaining two take in the situation with a disturbing indifference. The last to arrive is Galleoda (ガレオーダ), who tells them to not dwell on the subject of Gladius’s death, and warns them no matter what they do, never do anything that would disgrace the name of Orga Night.
On the other hand, the gang has arrived in the city of Nad Lezen. Renown for its flotation rock mining, Nad Lezen is essentially a giant refinery built for the purpose of processing the stones to usable quality. The city is divided into three levels. The topmost level is reserved for aristocrats and Edel Raids, the second level for distinguished persons and individuals with identification, and the third level where is gang is at is the industrial sector and is open to everyone. The gang decides to find lodging and settle down for the night. Seeing this as another opportunity to spend some “quality time” with Ren alone, Cou sets out to find her after while carrying some desserts. He finds her on the balcony alone, staring at the night sky. Their conversation eventually leads to the topic of Ren’s desire to go to Edel Garden. Ren confesses that she’s going there to meet a person of great importance to her. Cou, of course, takes this the wrong way, thinking about what Cisqua proposed earlier about Ren going to meet a possible lover in Edel Garden. Before Ren can finish, she finds Cou already gone from her side.
The next morning, Cisqua organizes the group to search for clues of Edil Garden. Kuea and Ren, being Edel Raids, gets to go to the top level. Cisqua and Rowen take level two as their search location. Cou, being someone without ID and entered the country illegally, is responsible for the lowest level, the ghetto third level. As the group disperses, Ren timidly asks Cou to be careful, and is blatantly ignored by the latter. Knowing that arriving at their destination could mean the end of their relationship, Cou still decides to keep his promise.
On the second level, Cisqua gets into an argument with the receptionist in charge of air transportations. Typical Cisqua-style comedy ensues, and ends when she discovers her bank account is nearly empty thanks to her sister, Melfondo (see EG: Flag of Bluesky), leaving them no choice but to take the cable cars. Unbeknownst to them, only a few feet away is Parl, watching them with vengeful eyes.
Ren and Kuea are taking it slow on the first level. Instead of actively searching for clues, the two are touring the city and taking in the sites. Kuea’s “womanly intuition” detects something wrong with Ren. She hits the nail on the head when she asks Ren if there’s something the matter between her and Cou. Kuea gets Ren to open up and discuss her feeling for Cou, but things go bad when Ren starts reading too much into Cou’s reaction and starts being upset with herself. Believing everything’s her fault, Ren even asks Kuea for any way of canceling a Pledge. Sensing that things can end up going badly, Kuea calms Ren and runs to get them both something to drink. With Kuea gone, a mysterious woman approaches Ren and tells her there is a way of ending a Pledge, but before Ren could ask, Kuea returns and the mysterious woman disappears.
At around the same time, Cisqua and Rowen are dismayed to find that a terrorist bombing as completely crippled the railway system, rendering their backup plan no longer a plan. Cou sees the news on a broadcasting monitor on the third level and isn’t bothered by it, jokingly thinking it was Cisqua’s missiles that caused the incident. His thoughts are interrupted when an obese middle-aged man with a mustache falls on him, and the two would have gotten into a fist fight had not the middle-aged man recognise Cou’s jacket. Apparently, he used to be one of the Red Lynx’s rivals. Luckily, he holds no grudge against them, and even takes Cou into his home for a chat. Upon hearing Cou’s name and the news that the Red Lynx has been shot down, the man insults the Red Lynx and leaves the house in what appears to be anger. Before Cou could chase after him and give him a piece of his mind, the man’s wife stops him. She takes Cou into the basement, and there he sees something that blows his mind away. Standing in the basement of the house is a fly machine from long ago.
Parl gets the last page of the volume as she repeatedly stabs a pillow with her dagger, all the while swearing revenge on Ren for the pain she has given her.
Impression
Elemental Gelade never had much going for its storyline. Heck, it’s probably as standard as they come for a shounen action title. But it does get better in this volume with Cou’s growing sense of doubt in his relationship with Ren and in himself. Ren’s melancholy over Cou’s reaction towards her also serves to boost the story in terms of potency with regards to the underlying romantic development between the main leads. Still, what keeps me coming back to EG volume after volume is the comedy and characters. The interact between Cisqua and Cou never ceases to amuse, and many character’s internal monologue often provides the laughs that EG fans are so fond of. Characters are distinctive in both appearance and personality. Sure, they are undeniably cookie cutter stereotypes individually under careful analysis, but Azuma’s choice of combination makes for a memorable and fun group of characters that readers can easily relate to and identify with. Whether it’s Cou’s clumsiness during romantic situations, Cisqua’s destructive tendencies, Kuea’s dominatrix traits, and Rowen’s perfectionist ideals, they are all characteristics that fans of the franchise have come to remember and relate to each character. Ren’s design is especially impressive due to her multifaceted personality. Unlike many shounen female leads, Ren completely shatters the expectation of a timid, useless, and air-headed heroine that does absolutely nothing except whining and crying. She behaves appropriately for a girl of her age and appearance, but her occasional flashes of insight also tells us that there’s more to her than what meets the eyes. EG might not have much story to hold itself together, but the comedy and characters more than makes up for its deficiencies at this point. A worthy read that I would suggest to any manga reader.
The following is a list of known Edel Raid classifications:
Note: I’m translating according to the furigana of these terms, not the kanji meaning. The “Gen” comes from “ジン”, which can be translated as gin, the alcoholic beverage, or genie, as in the mystical entity. Here, I chose the latter due to the context to which the terms apply and shortened “genie” to “gen.” As far as I can tell, it doesn’t hold any significance other than the “coolness factor.” A detailed explanation of the attributes can be found in volume 10, but it is so damn clunky in Chinese I don’t feel like deciphering it ‘cuz that’s just too much work. Y’all just have to deal with it.
First Glitter Ring (第一煌環)
* 地属性 (Gen=Soil)
* 風属性 (Gen=Winds)
* 火属性 (Gen=Flame)
* 水属性 (Gen=?)
* 緑属性 (Gen=Root)
* 智属性 (Gen=Wit)
Second Glitter Ring (第二煌環)
* 美属性 (Gen=Arts)
* 音属性 (Gen=Sounds)
* 盾属性 (Gen=Defender)
* 剣属性 (Gen=Edge)
* 愛属性 (Gen=Hearty)
* 虚属性 (Gen=Virtual)
Third Glitter Ring (第三煌環)
* 光属性 (Gen=Blaze)
* 闇属性 (Gen=Darkness)
* 動属性 (Gen=Steer)
* 静属性 (Gen=Silent)
* 生属性 (Gen=?)
* 死属性 (Gen=?)
That’s all for now.
